Adam Balic

See! Am I right or am I right? Right? Right! Bought some authentic Pakistani, aged, expensive Basmati on the week end. Still sucked, Damn it all to Hades. I don't even consider par-boiled rice as rice. Uncle Ben? .

OK I looked into this rice thing. "Basmati" refers to a group of rice (many types of these) the best Basmati is aged for 1-2 years. During this process the water content is lost and the natural oil flavours becomes more pronounced. When I eat basmati rice I am looking for a dry fluffy rice that has a nutty/butterery aroma and flavour. This comes from aged rice apparently, so maybe that is what I am not getting here. Will investigate this further. Still screwed on the Jasmine front.

Actually, "Tilda" is one of the Basmati rices that I have been throwing out after using once. Maybe it is just me, but it doesn't seem to have Basmati flavour? Simon, Carbs=Death obviously, but do you have an opinion on this (sorry I can't remember if Bengali eat rice or bread?).

What gives with rice in the UK? Given the healthy numbers of South-East Asians, Italians and Folk from the Subcontinent in Melbourne (Australia) we have a lot of rice options. In general, we ate Jasmine rice (mostly as broken rice, but higher grades as well) Risotto type rices and Basmati types, as well as Sushi rice. Great flavours and textures. We have noticed that Jasmine rice and Basmati rice (as bought from Supermarkets or smaller stores) have no or very little flavour and the texture is all funny (tends to go mushy quickly). Is it treated somehow? I now buy 10 kg sacks of Basmati and Jasmine rice from the Asian groccer, but in the last two years I have bought and thrown out dozens of packets of rice. Given the stupidly high price you pay for Jasmine and Basmati rice here, it should taste better otherwise you might as well buy American long grain (or buy that boiled frozen rice from Tescos). Still now source of decent risotto rice, although that is not as critical.

Dinner - One Muffin and two glasses of Ouzo. New health kick I am on.

Wilfrid - I think they are a type of Borlotti bean, so European. They have a ham-y taste to them so they are cooked with ham or served with Procuitto etc.

I know "Thai" seems to be a problem for Pubs here. My wife ordered a "Thai Fish Cake" from a local pub, what she got was a potato/canned salmon normal type fish cake, not even a sad little sprig of coriander or anything. She complained that is wasn't a Thai fish cake, the chef came out and demanded to know why it wasn't . Silly boy to annoy my wife that much. I think it may be a chain pub thing? Those places with the St. Bernard dog symbols (?), terrible. Is this also a problem of outside catering? The one pub that I buy food in is very small (one bar in a little room with 140 single malts ~8 real ales), it sells toasties (Brie & ham, Stilton etc) which I would rather eat then overpriced chain pub filth.

Circeplum - sorry about the impending maternal wrath . That rice dish sounds great (I have never heard of it either, what does your mother say about it?), worth the trip amoungst the tourists alone. Try living in Edinburgh for a while, then you may not be so food jaded .

I think in the context they were speaking of they ment "no water filled, synthetic smoke flavoured pig product". They also could have been refering to the fact that much of the bacon avalible in Britian is Danish. More a statement of quality then anything else. Proper English bacon can be streaky style or mid-rasher (and several other cuts aswell I think), green or smoked. Paul - are any of those Irish cuts big enough for Irish boiled bacon? - yum!

Fritata is great. If they are young enough they don't need that much pre-cooking. Grilled with EVOO and sliced in a salad with some feta.

Who would shoot you after that lot? BANG!!! Mess every where.

My grandmother (Yorkshire origins) makes it from left over roast mutton. Mutton minced, mixed with S&P, onion and carrot. Placed into ceramic pie dish, covered with mashed spuds which are forked to give loads of extra surface area so they go all crispy. Baked and eaten with dead horse.

The examples I have seen are skin off, whith maybe a very few streaks of meat at one end, which get trimed off.. My friends insist I eat great amounts of this every time I vist them, there is something very funny about non-Italians eating apparently (much like when I asked for a custurd filled doughnut, which in the local patois also translates as "blowjob") . Always on crostini/toast

Gary - you used the fat from the Lardo? What else is there?

Tired last night so Indian meal abandoned. Risotto with Chestnut, Black Cloud and Porcini mushrooms.

In Edinburgh VALVONA & CROLLA sells it and suggests that you fry it like bacon .

Oh right. I have seen that in action.

Vin Santo. Makes a good reduction for pork or veal. LML - does wine flambe? I didn't think that it had a high enough alcohol content or maybe I am just crap at flambe?

Well?

Sure. And if there is any left from the bottle you used for cooking, well that's the cooks portion.

Excellent! I am going to steal this idea from you tonight, along with several of Survir's! I can't wait for the "Gosh Adam I have never tasted Indian food like this."

OK thank you. Do all/most Bengali deserts/sweets have green cardamon in them?

Simon - I am having a little trouble imagining what this is going to turn out like. What type of cheese is Paneer?

You should get a black currant and plum tart with a custurd base. You would really enjoy it I think!

Breton Artichokes (French market in Glasgow for weekend, wife picked them up) stuffed with seasoned pork. Braised for and hour then finished in oven (just to brown the meat, as it looks a little icky after braising). Good Olive oil/lemon juice to dip and Roasted potatoe wedges. Potatoe and fresh artichoke go very well together, not sure we. Maybe it is because artichokes have a chemical in them that makes things taste sweeter?